Cañon City

My first stop after Pike's Peak was Cañon City in southern Colorado, a town that really captured my interest.  There are three things you should know about Cañon City: 1) It's one of the few US cities with an enyay (the letter 'n' with a tilde) in the name, 2) there's a huge gorge just outside of town, and 3) It's one of the prison capitals of the US, with 13 prisons located in or near the town, including an underground federal supermax lockup.

In his letter from Pueblo, Colorado, Lummis tells a thrilling tale about Cañon City.  As he passes a gang of laborers in black and white jumpsuits working outside a stone building, he notices something on the walk in front of him.  "It was only a shadow, but the shadow of a bull-necked ruffian, whose uplifted right hand held a stone hammer".   Lummis has just enough time to jump into the middle of the road, flip out his revolver and watch "the convict and his fellows jump back to their work with studied innocence".  Lummis has passed the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañon City.

I came to Cañon City primarily to stop by the Royal Gorge (aka Grand Canyon of the Arkansaw).  I knew about the prison story, but had no idea if the prison still existed, or exactly where it would be.  I didn't expect the 1884 prison to be standing and hoped only to take a picture of a modern facility for the blog.

Pike's Peak took up a lot of time, so dusk was rapidly approaching as I made my way to the outskirts of town.  Route 50 is the main drag of Cañon City and leads you into town as well as out to the gorge.  Once the town begins to peter out and you enter the foothills on the edge of town, Route 50 elbows off to the right suddenly.  Right in this elbow is an odd-looking complex built snugly against a small mountain.  I only had time to catch a few glimpses as I drove past the building and rounded the elbow.  Could that be the...

With it getting dark fast I made my way for several miles on Route 50, signs periodically promising me the gorge right around the corner.  Stars are starting to appear on the horizon.  I'm trying to decide whether to just turn back and call it a day.  Eventually I pass an arch informing me I am entering the Royal Gorge area, and I make my way slowly in the twilight through a narrow, hilly road crowded with twisted piñon trees.  I'm still wondering if I'm being stupid, will I even be able to see the gorge if I get to it?  As I round a curve, a large deer appears next to the car and startles me.

Finally, I get to the main visitor area and lookout of the gorge.  The gate to the parking lot is down, and I see a ranger-type dude eyeing me as I park the car in a space just before the gate.  A short, winding dirt path takes me to a lookout area crowned with blacktop and chain link fence.  It's almost dark now so it's hard to see the gorge.  I feel like one of the only souls around.  As I approach the fence I hear a novel sound: it's the deep resonating of the river thundering below. When I walk up closer and squint and let my eyes adjust, I can see the soaring, ragged walls of the gorge that the river is reverberating off of in the dusky night.  OK, I'm impressed.

I get back in the warm car, turn on the radio searching for whatever it can pick-up, and make my way back to town, fairly satisfied with my Royal Gorge experience (driving real slow for deer).  The dark, lonely drive back through the hills in uneventful, though I'm determined to have another look at that building by the bend.

When I get to the bend outside of town again, my eyes dart around this weird complex, and I see tantalizing signs that I've struck Lummis gold.  It's definitely a prison, and appears to still be in use.  Among the modern guard towers with angled windows are old stone walls that blend in surprisingly well with the color of the mountain and short medieval-looking tower structures that don't seem to be in use.

I wasn't sure then, but this is the same prison, in modern form, that Lummis walked passed on his way to the Royal Gorge in 1884.  After re-reading his account and familiarizing myself with the location, I realized this old prison is exactly where Lummis says it is, "Half a mile beyond town, and a mile east of the portals of the canyon..."

Woefully, both the Museum of Colorado Prisons in Cañon City and the History Center are closed on Tuesdays in the off-season, so I can't fully dive into the interesting history of this prison-capital, but I gleaned interesting information from local people and from Nancy, the director of the Prison Museum who kindly returns my call.

- The prison was opened in 1871 as the Territorial Prison.  It became the Colorado State Penitentiary when Colorado became a state.

- The prison was built by convicts out of stone quarried from the mountain behind it

- It has held prisoners continually since it's creation and is still in use as a medium security prison.

- Residents told me that correctional facilities are the major industry of Cañon City.  It's generates lots of revenue for the city and accounts for a huge share of the jobs in town ("a lot of cops live here," I was informed).  When I suggested the Royal Gorge must also be a big industry, my informant replied that the Gorge was seasonal, while the prisons are year round.

By the way, I was told at the hotel that they give tours of the State Penitentiary.  This is not true, they do not give tours, do not attempt to take a tour.  The morning after my first trip to the Gorge and prison drive by, I returned to the facility, this time parking my car and getting out for a closer look.  With camera slung over my shoulder, and Letters from the Southwest in hand I strode through the front gate of the prison.

"Can I help you sir?" I hear a voice calling out.

I looked around for a second, then look up and see an officer looking down at me from the tower.

"Um...yeah, I heard they are tours here, can I take a tour"

"No"

"Is it OK if I take some pictures?"

"No"

"Alright, thanks."

"Have a nice day."

So I turned around and drove out to the Royal Gorge again.

By the way, these illicit photos are from an area near the Prison Museum, which is located adjacent to the facility.  I climbed a small hill and started taking pictures before I attempted the tour.  I'm worried they may have seen me doing this and were annoyed with me (maybe they were watching me from the towers the whole time as I pulled into the parking lot).  This area, I believe, is not even from the oldest section of the prison structure, but it gives you an idea of how cool it looks.  Imagine incredible, locally quarried stone walls and turrets 50 years older than these.


So, thank goodness, I escaped a free tour of the inside of one of Cañon City's prisons.  I wish I could have taken more pictures at my leisure, because this was one of the neatest old West buildings I've come across thus far.  If you're in the Colorado Springs area, I highly recommend a side trip to Cañon City to the see Royal Gorge, and the old prison on the way.

Sincerely Yours,
SHU